Cotton-press.



N0. 696,09. Patented Dec. 3|, [90L W. T. BESSUNETTE.

COTTON PRESS.

{Application filed Mar, 18, 1901.)

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Shaat l.

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N0. 690,!29. Patented Dec. 3|, l90l.

' W. T. BESSUNETTE. I

COTTON PRESS.

(Application filed Mar. 18, 1901 4 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

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No. $90,129; Patented Dec. 3|, [90L W. T. BESSDNE' I'TE.

COTTON PRESS.

[Application filed Mar. 18, 1901.) (No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

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UNiTEn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

TVILLIAM T. BESSONETTE, OF TEMPLE, TEXAS, ASSIGNOR OF THREEFOURTHS TO W; A. BARCLAY, OF TEMPLE, TEXAS.

COTTON-PRESS.

SPEGIFICATKON forming part of Letters Patent No. 690,129, dated December 31, 1901.

Application filed March 18 1901. Serial No. 51,761. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern: Be it known that I, WILLIAM T. BEssoN- ETTE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Temple, in the county of Bell and Stateof Texas, have invented a new and useful (Jotton-Press, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improved cotton-press which is adapted to form cylindrical bales of cotton-bat rolled upon itself; and it consists in the peculiar construction and combination of devices hereinafter fully set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is partly an elevation and partly a sectional view of a cotton-press constructed in accordance with myinvention. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the same, taken on a plane indicated by the line a a of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the same at right angles to Fig. 1. Figs. 4 and 5 are detail views.

The lower relatively fixed compressingrolls 1, of which there are a pair, are journaled in bearings 2 on a bed-plate 3. The 2 5 said rolls 1, while disposed close together and side by side, are out of contact with each other. The shaft of each of said rolls 1 is extended at one end, as at 4, and on the said extended portions of said shafts are fixed spur- 0 gears 5, both of which are of the same diameter. Said gears 5 do not intermesh. A counter-shaft 6 is journaled in suitable bearings 7, with which the bed-plate is provided. Said counter-shaft has a pinion 8 fixed thereto, which pinion engages both of the said spurgears 5 and operates as an idler and causes said spur-gears, and hence the said compressing-rolls 1, to rotate both in the same direction, as is indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2. A spur-gear 9 is also fixed to the counter-shaft 6. Said spur-gear 9 is engaged by a pinion 10 on a power-shaft 11, the latter having its bearings on the bed-plate. Power is communicated to the power-shat t from a suitable engine by any suitable means, as a belt and pulley or the like, the said means being not here shown, as the same are well understood. The bed-plate 3 is provided beyond the ends of the rolls 1 with vertical standards 12,in each of which is a vertical guideway 13.

A steam or other fluid pressure cylinder 14 has its head bolted to the lower side of the bed-plate 3, said cylinder being vertically disposed and depending from and supported by the said bed-plate. In the said cylinder is a piston 15, the latter being provided with apair of piston-rods 16, the lower ends of which project below the lower head of the cylinderand are attached to and connected together by a cross-head 17. An inverted-U'shaped vertically-movable frame 18 has its vertical side bars 19 guided in the guideways 13 of the fixed standards 12, the lower ends of said side bars being bolted to the ends of the cross-head 17, as at 20. Thereby the said vertically-movable frame 18 may be raised and lowered by the operation of the piston in the cylinder. The shaft 21,0f the upper compressing-roll 22 has its bearings in the said vertically-movable frame 18, as at Near one end of the said shaft 21 is a spur-Wheel 24, which is of the same diameter as the spur-wheels5. Links 25 have their upper ends pivotally connected to the shaft 21, as at 26, said links being disposed on opposite sides of the gear-wheel 24. An idle wheel 27 has its supporting-shaft 28 journaled in and carried by bearings 29 in the lower free ends of said links. The said idle wheel 27 meshes with the gear 24 and with oneof the gears 5. A pair of links 30, So which are similar to the links 29,-connect the shaft 28 of said idle gear-wheel 27 to the shaft 4 of one of the lower relatively fixed compressing-rolls 1.

It will erstood from the foregoing that the compressing-rolls 1 22 are at all times rotated in unison while the roll 22 is being raised by the formation of the bale and is receding from the rolls 1, the shaft 28 of the idler gear-wheel 27 moving in an are, which 0 is concentric with the shaft 4, to which it is connected by the links 30. The vertical central axis of the upper vertically-movable compressing-roll 22 is disposed to one side of the vertical plane of the space between the lower 5 compressing-rolls 1. Hence when the said roll 22 reaches the lower limit of its vertical movement it contacts with one ofthe rolls 1, but is out of contact with the other, as shown in Fig. 2, a space or throat 31 being formed between the roll 22 and the non-contacting roll 1, through which throat or space the cot- Oil ton-bat is fed to the compressing-rolls. Preferably lemploy alight core-roller 32, around which the cotton-bat is wound in layersby the rotation of the compressing-rolls; but the use of this core-roller is optional, and the same maybe dispensed with. In practice, however, the core-roller, which is inexpensive and is made of wood, is exceedingly useful to the cotton -spinners in subsequently handling the bale, and I find it desirable to employ the core-roller for this reason. By thus disposing the center of the upper compressing-roll to one side of the space between the opposing sides of the lowercompressingrolls, not onlyis the throat 31 formed between the upper roll and one of the lower rolls,

which is advantageous in the feeding of the bat to the rolls,- but this-disposition of the upper roll also allows its lower periphery to begin pressing on the bale at the initial stage of its formation much earlier than it could possibly do if the center of the upper roll were directly over the space between the lower ro11s,-as will be understood, and thereby the central portion of the bale nearest the core thereof is compressed to the same den sityas tne remainder of the bale. Steam may be admitted to and exhausted from either end of the cylinder 14 by any suitable means. I here show pipes 33 for thus admitting team to and exhausting the same from opposite ends of the cylinder,and I also indicate in Fig. 1 a four-way cock 33 havinga suitable operating-handle 34-, which cooperates with the said pipes in-applying fluidpressure to either side of the piston in the cylinder. During the formation of a bale steam under suitable pressure is admitted to tnenpper end of the cylinder,pressing downward on the piston,and hence exerts the requisite downward pressure on the upper compressing-roll 22 to cause the bale to be formed of the required density. At the completion of the formation of the bale after the same has been bagged in the usual manner pressure is relieved from the upper'end of the cylinder and is applied in the lower end thereof to the lower side of the piston, hence raising the compressing-roll 22, and thereby raising the same from the completed bale, thus enabling the bale to be readily taken out of the lilabhiiil'el It is of importance in the formation of cylindrical bales of cotton-bat to have the ends thereof even and regular from .center to circiimference. To effect this, I provide a pair of plates 35, which 1 term head-plates, which are of the shape shown in Fig. 5 and are disposed at the ends of the compressingrolls and bear against the latter during the formation of a bale, the layers of'the cotton bat being compressed at their edges against the inner side of the said head-plates, and

hence the ends or heads of the bale are finished and evened by the said head-plates.

Each of the latter is pivotally supported near its upper side by a bolt 36, the=inner end of which is adapted to play vertically in a slot 37, with which the head -plate is provided, and the said bolt being secured to and carried by one of the side bars 19 of the vertically-mow able frame 18. The head-plate overlaps the ends of the compressing-rolls and is maintained in such position relative to the compressing-rolls during the formation of the bale. At the completion of the bale the ensuing raising of the upper compressing-roll by the means and in the manner hereinbefore described causes the lower side of the head-plate to be raised sufficiently to clear the said lower side of the head-plate of the shafts 4, and the head-plate may be then swung to one side on the pivotal supportingbolt 36 to facilitate the removal of the finished bale from the press.

Each head-plate 35 has a bracket 38 bolted on its outer side, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6,'the head of the pivotal bolt 36 operating in a vertical slot in said bracket. When the head'- plateis lowered, the lower corners a thereof receive the shafts 4, the depending lower side I) of said head passing between said shafts. In the upper side of each head-plate is a notch c toreceive the vertically-movable shaft 21. As the arms 19 rise during the formation of a bale the bolts 36, carried thereby, travel upward in the slotted brackets 37 until said bolts reach the upper limits of the slots in said brackets. In the continued operation of the press the said head-plates are raised subsequently by said bolts 36, and when the bale is of the requisite diameter the corners or clear the shafts 4, thereby permitting the head-plates to swing rearward to clear the ends of the bale as the latter is, removed from the press.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. In a press, the combination of a bed-plate having fixed standards on its upper side, said standards having vertical guideways, said bed-plate being further provided with bearings, a pair of lower rolls journaled in said bearings, a fluid-pressure mechanism, including a cylinder and a movable element, said cylinder depending from and attached to said bed-plate, a cross-head attached to said movable element, a vertically-movable frame having vertical arms connected together at their upper ends, operating in said vertical guide ways and having their lower ends secured to said cross-head, an upper roller having its bearings in said vertical arms of said vertically-movable frame, means to rotate said rollers, and head-plates carried by said ver= tical arms of said frame, substantially as de scribed.

2. In a press, the combination of a pairof compressing-rolls in fixed bearings and disposed side by side, a compressing-roll movable toward and from said fixed compressingrolls, a movable frame having bearings for and carrying said movable roll, head-plates pivotally connected to and carried by said movable frame, means to allow lost motion between said movable compressing-roll and said head'plates, and the latter having the lower depending portions 1) to operate between the bearings of the fixed rolls, and having the notches c in their upper sides to receive the shaft of the movable roll, substantially as described.

3; In a press, the combination of compressing-rolls in fixed bearings, a compressing-roll movable toward and from said fixed compressing-rolls, a movable frame having bearings for said movable roll, head-plates having slotted members, and pivotal bolts carried by said frame and engaging said slotted members, said bolts supporting said headplates, substantially as described.

4. In a press, the combination of relatively fixed compressingrolls, a compressing-roll movable toward and from said relatively fixed rolls, pivoted head-plates, means to carry said head-plates with said movable roll and allow lost motion between said movable roll and said head-plates, and means to lock the latter against pivotal movement when said compressing-rolls are in operation, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM T. BESSONETTE. Witnesses:

RoB'r. L. LovicK, N. A. SAYRE. 

